In 2017 World Education lead research into identifying the unmet needs of UXO survivors living in Laos. According to the National Regulatory Authority there are approximately 15,000 UXO survivors living in Laos. World Education worked with Indochina Research Ltd. (IRL) to collect individual stories, medical conditions, economic statuses, and other influential factors of 300 UXO survivors from Xieng Khouang, Savannakhet, and Attapeu Province.

Dr. Jo Durham (School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland) led the design of the tools used in field data collection and analyzed the results from the 300 respondents. The final report detailing an analysis of the unmet needs of UXO survivors and subsequent recommendations, were presented and discussed by representatives from the NRA, provincial hospitals, and iNGOs at a workshop in Vientiane. While the individual needs identified during the research such as assistive devices, mental health treatment, and general accessibility to health services remain at the forefront of survivors’ challenges, better communication between development partners, implementation organizations and health workers will dramatically improve case management and treatment pathways.

With this information, World Education hopes to strengthen the Government of Laos’ planning of delivering effective victims’ assistance under a broader disability inclusion strategy.

The goal of the USAID funded World Education TEAM project was ambitious: to enable people with disabilities, especially women and girls, to attain and maintain maximum independence to fully and equally participate in all aspects of life.

The stories in this book are stories of hope and resilience, and they illustrate the contribution that World Education’s USAID-funded TEAM project has made towards the realization of the rights of persons with disabilities to access improved services and to enjoy the same quality of life as others in the Lao PDR.

Click the picture below to see the e-book version of TEAM’s “Celebrating Diversity: Stories of Hope and Resilience”.

World Education Laos celebrated our 25th anniversary in Lao PDR on September 15th, 2017! Over the past 25 years, we have worked hard in support of our mission to engage and empower Lao communities, families, and individuals through programs in education, health, mine action, and economic development. Our projects have taken place in every province and have spanned across many various sectors, from Lao textiles to credit unions.

Thank you to our special guests US Ambassador Rena Bitter, UN Resident Coordinator Kaarina Immonen, the Deputy Head of Mission for the Australian Embassy Andreas Zurbrugg, Mr. Mithong Souvonvisay, Mr. Thonglith Sihabandid, and the representatives from our donors, the Lao government, and our INGO/NGO partners.

We are looking forward to our next 25 years of working even more closely with our Lao community.

“I don’t blame my parents that I was born like this. I don’t blame fate that I am different from others. I don’t want your pity. I will prove to myself and the rest of the world that I’ve got willpower, perseverance, courage, ability, and my value as a human being is the same as yours.” – Douangchay Southamamvong, Savannakhet.

As part of World Education’s USAID-funded TEAM project, sub-recipient ADDP worked to organize the “Para Sports Awareness Raising Program” through the development of wheelchair basketball in local provinces from May 2016 – August 2017. As a part of this initiative, a short film named “We All Can” was developed to show how persons with disabilities can be empowered and motivated by sports as an entry point to social integration.

The film was produced, filmed, and directed by Anysay Keola from Lao New Wave Cinema, a local film company with international recognition.

Khammouane is the Deputy Project Manager for World Education’s Resilient Livelihoods for the Poor project, which enables 400 of the poorest households in Lao Ngam District, Saravane Province to have sustainable livelihoods that last beyond the project. Each household in the project cohort receives a productive asset (for example, livestock) and comprehensive support through fortnightly household visits, training sessions, and asset support grants to help them plan towards their future.

In 2007, Khammouane received a Bachelor’s degree in English from Mahachulalongkhorerajavidyalaya University in Thailand. After graduating, Khammouane moved to Vientiane and lived for three years as a monk; he loved being a monk, as it provided him with a very good understanding of Lao culture and Buddhist values.

However, Khammouane wanted to support his family, so he began working for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) as an English translator in Lungnamtha Province. After one year, he continued translation work for the Service Fraternal d’Entraide (SFE) in Sekong Province.

In August 2013, Khammouane began working in microfinance for GIZ in Lao Ngam District, Saravane Province, and he really enjoyed it. As a monk, Khammouane was taught that we should help people who may not have the resources or the privileges to help themselves, and he loved how these values directly corresponded to international development work. Thus, when Khammouane finished his contract with GIZ after two years, he began working for World Education’s Resilient Livelihoods for the Poor project in October 2015.

Khammouane’s favorite part of his job is working with his staff to support the poorest households in Lao Ngam District in developing sustainable livelihoods; he believes it is a wonderful opportunity to support others and give back to the community. He is proud of his staff, who all work together to produce amazing results.

In the future, Khammouane would like to continue working in livelihood support as a Project Manager. He would like to work in Pakse District, Champasak Province, so he can be with his wife and two-year-old son. We wish you all the best, Khammouane, and we thank you for all of your hard work!

Rosita Boland, a journalist for The Irish Times, teamed up with Mark Whiteside from the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) to visit UXO survivors in Xieng Khouang Province, the most heavily bombed province in Laos. Boland reflects on the disastrous effects of what is now referred to as the “Secret War,” in which the U.S. dropped 270 million bombs on Laos between 1964 and 1973, in order to prevent supplies being taken into Vietnam during the war between the communist north and the U.S.-backed south.

Boland visits UXO survivors Yeyang Yang and Khammeung Phommalein, whom World Education supported with medical compensation and peer-to-peer support. Of Yeyang, Boland writes: “Now Yang goes into other communities to share his story and support other survivors. A couple of years ago he would never have agreed to talk to a journalist, much less to be photographed. His courage and ability to adapt are heroic.”

On 27 April 2017, the USAID-funded World Education Laos (WEL) TEAM project organized the seventh coordination meeting with 36 participants, including USAID, WEL, and TEAM’s 14 current sub-recipients. The meeting took place at the Learning House for Development in Vientiane.

WEL’s TEAM project and its sub-recipients shared their latest achievements and progress; emphasis was placed on learning from one another, and developing synergies with each other, in order to develop the rehabilitation and disability sectors in Laos. In addition, the importance of outcome measurement and accountability to demonstrate tangible change in the lives of beneficiaries was highlighted. As WEL-TEAM project’s Technical Director Bernard Franck stated, “It is so important that an organization can demonstrate its capacity to change the lives of people.”

Two of WEL-TEAM’s sub-recipients, QLA and CRS, joined together to distribute assistive devices in Khammouane Province for QLA to learn from CRS’s experience of assistive devices provision and monitoring. QLA was able to observe both the achievements and challenges of the distribution process and reflect on how they can improve their own practice in Xieng Khouang. For the future, it was agreed that the procurement and distribution of assistive devices must immediately follow the medical screening process, and that appropriate assistive devices must be given to the appropriate users.

LDPA also teamed up with LDWDC to deliver a job readiness training to LDWDC’s third batch of female trainees. The training truly empowered women with disabilities to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses and gave them the confidence to find a job in the future. Looking towards the future of the rehabilitation and disability sector in Laos, participants of TEAM’s Seventh Coordination Meeting discussed the importance of policy makers in implementing sustainable development changes. Upon hearing a presentation from the Faculty of Medical Technology on short-term rehabilitation training for medical doctors for one month, Michael Schultze from the Association for Autism asked, “What are the means to solve the core of the problem [a lack of internationally qualified rehabilitation personnel in Laos]? This is a short-term training; none of these doctors will be able to diagnose autism [as that was not part of the rehabilitation training]. There should be a longer term vision to send people to study abroad. We are doing the best we can do to solve immediate needs, but what about long term ones?”

Bernard Franck stated that the World Education TEAM model was the solution – by working together with government, local organizations, and international organizations and donors, the rehabilitation sector can fully develop to meet the unmet needs of persons with disabilities. In February 2017 at the World Health Organization’s “Rehabilitation 2030: A Call for Action’” conference on the future of rehabilitation, attended by the Lao PDR Vice-Minister for Health and TEAM’s Technical Director, all countries committed to take ten actions to reach the total integration of rehabilitation into the health system by 2030.

TEAM demonstrates that, through cooperation and coordination, a country and the lives of its people can change for the better!

Nurse Vieng Xaiyasin from Mahosot Hospital had an opportunity to attend a one-month training about speech therapy supported by the World Education Laos, USAID-funded CMR-TEAM project. The training, held in Khon Khaen Univeristy (KKU), Thailand, has been invaluable to her skills development, and since her return she has been able to implement her new skills and knowledge in her work.

One of the main added values of World Education’s TEAM project is to increase synergies and co-ordination in the disability and rehabilitation sector in Laos. World Education aims to link and develop connections between TEAM sub-recipients’ work and projects for the mutual benefit of the partners and the sector as a whole. In Vieng’s case, she was able to advise Catholic Relief Services (CRS), also one of the TEAM project’s sub-recipients, after CRS supported eight people to undergo cleft palate surgeries in Mahosot Hospital. She used her knowledge and skills and some of the materials she had designed after the CMR-KKU speech therapy training to help the CRS cleft lip and palate suregery patients improve their speech.

Ms. Vieng pointed out that, “The children need to practice speaking more after the surgery. It is quite challenging, because most of the clients return to their home town in rural provinces after the surgery, so it is difficult for them to improve their speech. However, I encourage them to keep in touch with the nurses by phone, and if they have a chance to return to Vientiane, we can provide them with continued suggestions and monitoring. For now, we tried our best to give the clients useful information before and during the surgery.”

Since the training, Vieng has been actively working in the Mahosot Hospital to assist and advise patients, especially those with speech problems. She has received refresher training and follow up monitoring by the lecturers from Thailand, and continues to use them as sources of inspiration and knowledge when she has a difficult case or needs some advice and support.

The wheelchair basketball team from Champasak Province emerged victorious at the National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament after narrowly beating the host province (Vientiane) 34-33 in the final. This made Vientiane and Luang Prabang the first-runner up and second-runner up, respectively.

The tournament, held at the Vientiane International School, marked the first time that players from Champasak, Luang Prabang, Savannakhet and Xieng Khouang Provinces, along with teams from Vientiane, came together to compete. The tournament is part of the “Para Sports Awareness Raising Program through the Development of Wheelchair Basketball in Local Provinces,” which helps empower persons with disabilities so they can live to their fullest potential and be active in their communities.

“We are convinced that this project will enable other people with disabilities to join and participate in more leisure and sport activities in the future. We believe that wheelchair basketball showcases the World Education’s TEAM project spirit wonderfully, and we hope to continue to display the skills of the Lao players to a wider audience,” said Colette Mclnerney, the Country Director of World Education.

The U.S Ambassador to Laos, Rena Bitter, also added, “The U.S. Government is committed to supporting the integration of Persons with Disability (PWD) into society, working to remove barriers and help people improve their quality of life.”

The sub-grants are part of a $5 million grant USAID awarded to the World Education Laos TEAM project in September 2014. The project provides sub-grants to local and international non-profit organizations in four main areas: training medical and physical rehabilitation staff, increasing access to economic empowerment opportunities for people with disabilities and their families, providing assistive technology to people with disabilities, and improving availability of medical and physical rehabilitation services. The goal of the project is to create a country where persons with disabilities, especially women and girls, are empowered and enabled to attain and maintain maximum independence to fully and equally participate in all aspects of life.

On 21 March 2017, at about 11:30 A.M. in Nyod Ngeum (Nongpet) Village in Paek District, Xieng Khouang Province, Miss. Lab Lee (10 years old) and Miss. Seng Lee (7 years old) found a UXO on the side of the road on the way home from school. Thinking it was a ball from the game pétanque, they took the ball home to play with their friends.

That day, the Lee family was having a baci ceremony, and the children were playing in the front yard. When Miss. Lab Lee took the UXO out to play with, the UXO dropped to ground, exploding. Tragically, Miss. Lab Lee was killed immediately, and the twelve cousins around her severely injured.

Immediately following the accident, the family brought some survivors to the Nongpet Sub-District Health Centre and some to the Xieng Khouang Provincial Hospital, where they received first aid. The same day, all survivors at the Sub-District Health Centre were transferred to the Xieng Khouang Provincial Hospital for further treatment; the Xieng Khouang Provincial Hospital notified World Education’s Victim Assistance Support Team (VAST) and the Quality of Life Association (QLA) of the accident one hour later, suggesting that VAST and QLA visit the survivors and their families the following day.

VAST coordinated with UXO Lao Xieng Khouang to check the accident area on the same day. Following this, UXO Lao confirmed that the type of UXO was BLU 26.

The next day, 22 March 2017, VAST and QLA went to the Provincial Hospital to meet with the survivors and their families to collect initial information and inform them of the War Victims Medical Fund (WVMF), which covers any and all medical expenses incurred by the accident. They also provided them with VAST’s and QLA’s contact phone numbers.

In the coming days, VAST and QLA will support the survivors and their family members in any way they possibly can. VAST is ready to facilitate the WVMF, and they are working on funeral support for Miss. Lab Lee and her family.